The Xbox has always been a poor selling system in Japan. The original X never caught on, and the 360 tends to languish on shelves (in spite of year's "head start" on other next-gen consoles, fewer than 500,000 360s have been sold in Japan.)GameSpot went on the investigative trail to figure out exactly why Japanese gamers have a problem with the 360, and brought back some surprising insights from Japanese developers.
Aaron Greenberg, Xbox Live marketing director:
"The feedback we got from the original Xbox console was that people didn't like the black color and they didn't like how big it was,"
Soul Calibur IV lead programmer Masaaki Hoshino:
"In order to succeed in Japan, [Microsoft] needs Japan-created content, not just a lot of foreign games that have been localized."
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation director Natsuki Isaki
"People think [foreign games] are difficult and there's no guidance on how to clear the objectives," said . "Now that has changed, and they are much easier to play, but this bias remains among Japanese gamers."
Of course the different style of Japanese role-playing games is said to play a big part in the 360s non-acceptance as well:
Isaki:
"I personally like games like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Gears of War, and Test Drive Unlimited. But I think Japanese players don't want challenging, stressful, difficult games. Japanese players would rather have role-playing games with a slow tempo, where they are led and shown what to do. So, maybe games like Blue Dragon will start to change things. When more of those kind of games come on to the market, then I think more Japanese players will accept the 360."
Aaron Greenberg, Xbox Live marketing director:
"The feedback we got from the original Xbox console was that people didn't like the black color and they didn't like how big it was,"
Soul Calibur IV lead programmer Masaaki Hoshino:
"In order to succeed in Japan, [Microsoft] needs Japan-created content, not just a lot of foreign games that have been localized."
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation director Natsuki Isaki
"People think [foreign games] are difficult and there's no guidance on how to clear the objectives," said . "Now that has changed, and they are much easier to play, but this bias remains among Japanese gamers."
Of course the different style of Japanese role-playing games is said to play a big part in the 360s non-acceptance as well:
Isaki:
"I personally like games like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Gears of War, and Test Drive Unlimited. But I think Japanese players don't want challenging, stressful, difficult games. Japanese players would rather have role-playing games with a slow tempo, where they are led and shown what to do. So, maybe games like Blue Dragon will start to change things. When more of those kind of games come on to the market, then I think more Japanese players will accept the 360."